Air con condenser radiators

[LotuStuart]

Thank you. That's perfect. 

Basically, stick with the original design or risk it going wrong over and over again. 

time to get mine sorted before the hot weather hits and all the good engineers are busy. 

[Chillidoggy]

Check out Swindon Alan's thread on this subject. I have a pair of replacement condensers on their way, as per his suggestion.

[swindon_alan]

Yeah, if you don't mind waiting for them to come via Chile, Hawaii, Vancouver, Aberdeen and then the Isle of Wight

[Chillidoggy]

I think they're on their way to Aleppo at the moment, so I'm hoping the bullets miss them.

[LotuStuart]

Ian-where are yours come from?

the last time I ordered some they were/NOT in stock!!

Very frustrated. 

[Chillidoggy]

Alan put the link on the first page of this thread. They're on sale at 52 Euros at the moment.

[LotuStuart]

thanks. I tried once before and gave up, but summers coming....

also, even though I'm not sure if it's the pipes or the rads, at E104 for the pair its a no brainer to get them done-as long as it can be done without draining the coolant system??, as I keep reading about engine rebuilds due to minor coolant issues (air lock, poor pressure cap) and I'd rather be hot than pay for a rebuild. 

[Alex Carter]

ordered from ze germans lets hope they have stock

 

[Chillidoggy]

2 hours ago, LotuStuart said:

thanks. I tried once before and gave up, but summers coming....

also, even though I'm not sure if it's the pipes or the rads, at E104 for the pair its a no brainer to get them done-as long as it can be done without draining the coolant system??, as I keep reading about engine rebuilds due to minor coolant issues (air lock, poor pressure cap) and I'd rather be hot than pay for a rebuild. 

 

The air-con engineer told me it's usually the condenser(s). And sure enough, mine were totally goosed, bowed to hell, clogged up, and leaking badly - see my thread for photos herehttp://www.thelotusforums.com/forums/topic/71107-enginegearbox-removal-started/?page=15 

A V8 owner will probably be able to tell you if you need to drop the rad-pack, mine has the charge-cooler rad in front of everything, so a different set-up.

[Alex Carter]

And the answer from a v8 owner is yes 

[Alex Carter]

just passed out over the price of the two pipes mine have snapped at the steel coupling 

B082P4379F     45.21

A082P4383F     277.34

[Andyww]

This is one reason I went with the single-condenser solution. There are no pipes needed, I crimped the correct fittings onto the hoses to fit the condenser.

BTW if anyone wants any fittings crimped onto hoses I have the correct tool and happy to do it.

I think on all cars the rad housing would have to be dropped out necessitating draining.

The condenser I used is 20% bigger than one of the dual-condenser ones. So there is a reduction overall but its a parallel-flow as opposed to the big brass serpentine unit originally used on earlier cars. It gives air at 8 degrees with 25 deg outside temp and the compressor runs at about 50% duty cycle. I am aware Philcool, above mentioned some possible issues but all looks good as far as operation goes and I cant really envisage any problems. Its not as though I am running it all day every day.

[Chillidoggy]

33 minutes ago, Alex Carter said:

just passed out over the price of the two pipes mine have snapped at the steel coupling 

B082P4379F     45.21

A082P4383F     277.34

 

Are you sure? When I was doing my rad-pack homework a while ago, the pair of them came to somewhere around £450 including VAT.

[swindon_alan]

Elise Shop
A082P4383F £231.12
B082P4379F £31.67

SJ
A082P4383F £212.97
B082P4379F £161.95

DeRoure
A082P4383F £212.87
B082P4379F £161.95

All plus shipping and VAT

[Chillidoggy]

Wow, bit of a difference with the Elise shop B082P4379F! Kind of makes you wonder if either they've left a 1 off somewhere.

Looking at my condenser pipework, there's quite a lot of work involved in them.

[Alex Carter]

i refuse to accept that for the steel couplings sticking to the alloy that its game over and going to cost hundreds .

the threads are fubard and the ends have snapped off i must be able to get these ends and get my welding friend to join them up .

wheres that blood hound Alllllllaaaaan ! 

[Alex Carter]

2 hours ago, Andyww said:

This is one reason I went with the single-condenser solution. There are no pipes needed, I crimped the correct fittings onto the hoses to fit the condenser.

BTW if anyone wants any fittings crimped onto hoses I have the correct tool and happy to do it.

I think on all cars the rad housing would have to be dropped out necessitating draining.

The condenser I used is 20% bigger than one of the dual-condenser ones. So there is a reduction overall but its a parallel-flow as opposed to the big brass serpentine unit originally used on earlier cars. It gives air at 8 degrees with 25 deg outside temp and the compressor runs at about 50% duty cycle. I am aware Philcool, above mentioned some possible issues but all looks good as far as operation goes and I cant really envisage any problems. Its not as though I am running it 

So can you get the correct ends

[Chillidoggy]

Looks like a fairly simple job to me. They're steel, so you just need the replacement fittings, a welder (or they could possibly be brazed in), and you're back in business.

 

 

(Admittedly this comes from the bloke who has just bought his fourth bottle of caustic soda to chemically remove the broken alloy stub ends from the oil cooler flexy pipes, the process of which has taken over a week.)

[swindon_alan]

1 hour ago, Alex Carter said:

wheres that blood hound Alllllllaaaaan ! 

You called sir?

Ok, looking at the parts manual:

The hose connections use the same O-rings as the condensor unions. So at a guess they should be the same threads. The spec for the condensors is:

That looks like 3/4" and 5/8", presumably British Standard Pipe? It is passing gas after all...

Incidentally, I see from one of your pics that your originals were Harrison items. Could you get the numbers off of it for me please Alex (I can't quite read them), just for the cross reference? Ta.

[swindon_alan]

You could try Plumb Centre (round the corner!) or someone like Pirtek for standard fittings that you could cut up and weld. They should have them in steel I would have thought, rather than just brass?

http://www.pirtek.co.uk/downloads/products/Fittings.pdf#4

[Andyww]

Getting correct O-ring fittings which crimp onto hoses is no problem. Fittings which attach to pipes I have no idea.

A/C fittings are dedicated, nothing is the same size as any other application.

One option for a dual would be to make up short hoses to replace the pipes but not sure if T-pieces are available as these would be pretty non-standard.

[Chillidoggy]

Those fittings look like they could be brazed rather than welded, but my eyesight isn't that good.

[swindon_alan]

Well if they are brazed then brass fittings would be ok yes?

[Chillidoggy]

You can braze brass or steel, so yes,.

They could also be silver soldered if brazing if going to be a problem temperature-wise.

[LotuStuart]

Is there any reason why we can't buy a condensir that is 247x828 (ie the total size of the original two condensers) and fit that? 

Even if it's not a standard size, they can be made up at reasonable cost (if I provide one old condensor it can be re-cored, but with a longer Central core-800 mm rather than 400mm) like water cooled radiators for cars, no?

then all that complex pipe work can be dumped, the capacity is the same as it was, everyone is happy?

Provides it can be physically fitted-and properly supported when in place-is this a plan?